f the 'therefore' is confirmed by the subsequent clause,
'this is the law and the prophets'; the summing up of the whole past
revelation of the divine will, and therefore in accordance with our
Lord's previous exposition of the relation between His new law and that
former one. As Luther puts it in his vigorous, homely way, 'With these
words He now closes His instructions given in these three chapters, and
ties it all up in a little bundle.'

But a connection may also be traced with the preceding paragraph. There
our desires were treated as securing God's corresponding gifts. Here our
desires, when turned to men, are regarded, not as securing their
corresponding conduct, but as obliging us to action. By taking our
wishes as the rule of our dealings with others, we shall be like God,
who in regard to His best gifts takes our wishes as the rule of His
dealings with us. Our desires sent heavenward procure blessings for us;
sent earthward, they prescribe our blessing of others. That is a
startling turn to give to our claims on our fellows. It rests on the
principle that every man has equal rights, therefore we ought not to
look for anything from others which we are not prepared to extend to
others. A. should give B. whatever A. thinks B. should give him. Our
error is in making ourselves our own centre, and thinking more of our
claims on others than of our obligations to them. Christ teaches us that
these are one. Such a principle applied to our lives would wonderfully
pull down our expectations and lift up our obligations. It is really but
another way of putting the law of loving our neighbours as ourselves. If
observed, it would revolutionise society. Nothing short of it is the law
of the kingdom, and the duty of all who call themselves Christ's
subjects.

This is the inmost meaning, says Jesus, of the law and the prophets. All
former revelations of the divine will in regard to men's relations to
men are summed in this. Of course, this does not mean, as some people
would like to make it mean, that morality is to take the place of
religion, but simply that all the precepts touching conduct to men are
gathered up, for the subjects of the kingdom, in this one. 'Love worketh
no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.'

OUR KNOCKING

'Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock,
and it shall be opened unto you.'--MATT, vii. 7.

In the letter to the church at Laodicea